The first EU wide ECF Cycling Barometer launched

The European Cyclists’ Federation (ECF) is using the run up to next
week’s Velo-city 2013, its international cycling conference in Vienna,
to launch a groundbreaking new benchmarking report which provides a
multi-dimensional view on cycling in all 27 EU countries.

Remarkably Netherlands and Denmark were inseparable at the top of the
table after assessing daily cycling levels, cycle tourism, advocacy
activity, bicycle sales and cyclists’ safety. Countries in the south
and east of Europe showed they have a lot of potential for improvement.

ECF Cycling Barometer Project Manager Chloe Mispelon said “The main
purpose of launching the ECF Cycling Barometer today is to get people
talking about international comparisons in cycling. We are constantly
asked which countries in Europe are ‘best for cycling’. The ECF Cycling
Barometer is our way of prompting a debate around five dimensions of
cycling we are prioritising.

We are confident in our results which show a strong correlation with
other data and knowledge about cycling but we call on the EU Horizon
2020 research program to establish data that is updated and maintained
through to 2020. The barometer shows that we really need reliable
statistics on cycling in the EU to enable governments and advocates to
assess progress on cycling and to allow collaborative working between
countries to improve cycling for European citizens.”

Up to now, it was considered difficult to compare European countries
and the state of their cycling across numerous fields. Different
national statistics and lack of data make it hard to be certain about
the cycling record of each country. Uniquely the ECF Cycling Barometer
took five verifiable EU-wide surveys and therefore eliminated different
treatments given to cycling in EU member states. The countries are then
given points according to their rank in each field and all points are
summed to get a final score.

ECF Secretary General Bernhard Ensink said “This is a valuable
analysis carried out by our ECF staff working across several
disciplines. Now the advocacy community and our partners can use this to
press governments for real, measurable change. If we are to double
cycling in Europe it is also vital for the EU to use this data and
develop it to show where strategic investments, structural funds and
research funding must be focused in coming years.”

The results are:

Rank

Country

Score

Rank

Country

Score

Rank

Country

Score

1=

Denmark

125

10

UK

80

19

Luxembourg

52

Netherlands

125

11

France

78

20=

Poland

47

3

Sweden

119

12

Slovenia

77

Lithuania

47

4

Finland

114

13

Czech Republic

69

22

Cyprus

41

5

Germany

105

14

Ireland

65

23=

Portugal

36

6

Belgium

100

15=

Estonia

56

Spain

36

7

Austria

95

Italy

56

25

Bulgaria

30

8

Hungary

91

17=

Latvia

54

26

Romania

30

9

Slovakia

88

Greece

54

27

Malta

15

—ends—

Notes to the editor:

About the European Cyclists’ Federation (ECF)

With over 70 members across nearly 40 countries, the European
Cyclists’ Federation (ECF) unites cyclist’ associations from across the
globe, giving them a voice on the international level. Our aim is to get
more people cycling more often by influencing policy in favour of
cycling.

ECF’s members are complemented by networks Scientists for Cycling, Cities for Cycling and the ECF Cycling Industry Club.